Our Encounters with Self-Harm

Charley Baker is a Lecturer in Mental Health at the University of Nottingham. She has a BA and MA in literature and is working on her PhD on psychosis and postmodernism at Royal Holloway, University of London. During her studies, Charley worked in both community adult and inpatient adolescent mental health for the NHS. Charley is Associate Editor of Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, has been awarded the title of Fellow of the Institute of Mental Health, and serves on the Editorial Board for Journal of Medical Humanities. She has spoken internationally on issues of representations of mental illness in literature, and has interests around self-harm, suicide, 'personality disorders' and the therapeutic use of reading. She is lead author on the co-authored monograph, Madness in Post-1945 British and American Fiction (Palgrave, 2010) and was invited contributor and literary advisor for the psychiatry textbook, Psychiatry PRN (Oxford University Press 2009). She has also written on rape in Angela Carter's fiction, and has published a range of peer reviewed journal articles. Charley is co-founder of the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded international Madness and Literature Network (www.madnessandliterature.org) and International Health Humanities Network (www.healthhumanities.org).Francis Biley (1958-2012) was Associate Professor at the University of Bournemouth. He had particular methodological interests in historiography, autoethnography, unitary appreciative inquiry and using the arts and humanities in health care. Clinically, his interests were in the built care environment, and in the service user movement in mental health and adult care. On 31 January 2013 he was awarded a posthumous Professorship in Nursing by Bournemouth University, which was received by his wife Anna, in recognition of his achievement as a scholar and his trajectory towards a Chair.With a wealth of personal experience of self-harm, Clare Shaw is one of the UK's most prominent and authoritative voices on this issue. She is also 'one of Britain's most powerful and dynamic young poets' (Arvon Foundation); widely published and anthologised, and with two collections published by Bloodaxe. She lives in West Yorkshire with three cats - and one daughter. For more information about Clare's work visit http://www.clareshaw.co.uk

I was challenged, shocked, enlightened, outraged and at times deeply moved by the narratives in this kook. I thought I 'knew' about self-harm; this book was a forceful reminder that each person's experience of self-harm is unique and different. What came across most powerfully was the importance of listening and trying to understand what the person's self-harming means to them. It is not an easy read and at times I had to pause for breath or to wipe away tears. It incorporates narratives, poems, reflections and thoughts about self-harm by people who have self-harmed and by family, friends and professionals. The most powerful voices are those of the people who have self-harmed or are still self-harming. Most narratives end with a personal reflection on how the contributor views their own story and the messages they would like to convey to professionals and/ or others in their own or similar positions. I cannot recommend this book enough. Written with honesty and dignity, these accounts bear witness to the sometimes monstrous failings of services ostensibly set up to offer help and support. It invites - even demands of its readers that they examine their own attitudes and practices towards self-harm honestly, without defensiveness. But the accounts also offer a message of hope and reflections on what can make a difference. Jackie Townsend, counsellor and supervisor in Therapy Today, April 2014